Origin of the Fifteen Promises of Our Lady

– Answered by Father Johann Roten, S.M.

Q: Can you tell me anything about the origin of the fifteen Promises of Mary?

A: The fifteen promises are quite well-known and have been widely publicized. They are part of an age-old Dominican tradition. They were allegedly given by Our Lady to Saint Dominic and/or Alan of Roche, the latter one of the founders/initiators of the Rosary as we know it today. Alas, the exact source seems to elude us. It would be of greater probability, it seems, that Alan rather than Dominic is the author. However, I did not find the exact reference ... if it exists at all. My hypothesis is that Alan in his sermons on the rosary may have mentioned some of these promises, and that tradition complemented them without giving a particular author. For more specific information you might want to consult the following:

Quodlibet de veritate fraternitatis Rosarii seu Psalterii beatae Mariae Virginis, by Michael Francis (Cologne, 1479);

Magister Alanus de Rupe ... Sponsus novellus beatissimae Virginis, Doctor Sacrae Theologiae devotissimus ordinis fratrum praedicatorum, de immense et ineffabili dignitate psalterii precelsae ac intermeratae Virginis Mariae, published 1498 by Carthusians in Stockholm; and

Beatus Alanus, redivivus, de Psalterio seu Rosario Christi et Mariae, tractatus in quinque partes distributus, published first by A. Coppenstein, Freiburg 1610.

THE FIFTEEN PROMISES OF MARY TO CHRISTIANS WHO RECITE THE ROSARY

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the rosary, shall receive signal graces.

2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who recite the rosary.

3. The rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell. It will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.

4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish. It will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God. It will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of external things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by these means.

5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary shall not perish.

6. Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise them in His justice. They shall not perish by an unprovided death. If they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God and become worthy of eternal life.

7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.

8. Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces. At the moment of death, they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.

9. I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.

10. The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.

11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the rosary.

12. All those who propagate the holy rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.

13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.

14. All those who recite the rosary are my sons and daughters, and children of my only Son, Jesus Christ.

15. Devotion to my rosary is a great sign of predestination.